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END TIME SIGN SEEKERS
Jesus replied in plain words to the sign-seekers of His day. It is written: “Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here,” (Matthew 12:38-41). There is an unhealthy interest found among some people in end time events. Some people, it seems, are curious about what the future holds, but care nothing for serving the Lord of the future. Others think that miracles and signs produce believers in Christ and so try to convince unbelievers by citing end-time prophecies which they think are being fulfilled. Jesus refused to give these kind of people even one sign of proof as to who He is. While God may use miracles to bless the faith of believers, He does not use miracles to produce faith in unbelievers. Plainly stated, no unbeliever was ever made into a believer because of a miracle which they observed. Here is proof of that last statement. The rich man in torment thought to keep his brothers from that awful place by asking Abraham to send the beggar Lazarus to preach to them. “Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead,” (Luke 16:29-31). You realize that One, the Lord Jesus, did indeed rise from the dead, but His resurrection persuaded no one to believe. And so we ask the question: have you repented at the preaching of Jesus Christ? Men and women may understand Bible prophecy and yet not know the Lord in the matter of salvation. In all probability you have heard the Gospel preached. You have surely heard “...how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4). Paul said that those things constitute the Gospel. What have you done with what you have heard? Have you believed to the saving of your soul? Or are you yet in your sins? John 8:24 records the words of Jesus: “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”
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